Hughes Aircraft Company

James R Walen

William R Crumly

Blake F Woith

Robert E Daugherty

Kenneth G Given, Ii

A multi-layer rigid-flex circuit (20) is formed of a number of flexible layers (62-70) on a rigid substrate (100) with individuals ones of the layers having laterally projecting arms (32,38) that define flexible circuit connections to individual ones of a number of ceramic circuit boards (10,12,14,16). The laterally projecting flexible arms (32,34,36,38) are each formed with gold dot or projecting feature pressure contacts (40a-40g) which are pressed against mating sets of circuit board contact pads (40a-40g) by a clamping bar (120) that is bolted to the rigid circuit board. Thus the interconnections between the rigid-flex circuit and the circuit boards are effectively built into the rigid-flex circuit, requiring only a clamp to complete the connection.

Raised feature/gold dot pressure interconnections of rigid-flex circuits

A hardboard (12) and a flat flexible cable (14) each carry a number of electrically conductive leads or traces (16, 18) having main portions which extend parallel to the longitudinal axes (12a, 14a) thereof. Conjugate connector portions (16a, 18a) of the traces (16, 18) extend from the ends of the main portions thereof at an acute angle (.theta.), such that the connector portions (18a) of the cable (14) are aligned over the connector portions (16a) of the hardboard (12) for soldering when the cable (14) is mated to the hardboard (12). The cable (14) is stiff and difficult to move laterally, but may be shifted longitudinally with small effort. Longitudinal relative movement of the cable (14) and hardboard (12) causes parallel shifting of the angled connector portions (18a) of the cable (14) relative to the connector portions (16a) of the hardboard (12), thereby enabling precise lateral adjustment of the connector portions (16a, 18a) without lateral relative movement between the cable (14) and the hardboard (12).

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Mission Viejo, CA, United States of America

James R Walen